Rhyme in Spanish Poetry

[Note: Assonance (asonancia), a
type of rhyme which involves vowels but ignores consonants, is reserved for
another page and will not be discussed here. For related material, see also
the page on counting syllables in Spanish
poetry.]

Perfect rhyme (rima perfecta
or rima consonante) in Spanish poetry is basically the same type of
rhyme we are familiar with in English poetry and song, where the vowels as
well as the consonants rhyme or sound identical for groups of
words. Rhyme begins with the last stressed vowel of a line of poetry, and
may consist of either one or two syllables, depending on whether or not the
last stressed vowel is the final syllable in the line. In Spanish, two-syllable
rhyme is called feminine; one-syllable rhyme is termed
masculine. Rhyme with three syllables is possible, but extremely
rare.

Masculine rhyme (rima masculina):
This is one-syllable rhyme; that is, the rhyme words are stressed on the
last syllable and thus the rhyme involves only the last vowel and any semi-vowel
and/or consonant occurring thereafter. Examples of words which share the
same masculine rhyme:

campeador

(all 3 words end in the same sound, -or)

amor

rhyme in -or

actor

Feminine rhyme (rima feminina):
This is two-syllable rhyme, where the rhyme words are stressed on the
next-to-last syllable and have the same sound starting with the primary vowel
of the next-to-the-last syllable. Examples of words with the same feminine
rhyme:

muertas

(each word ends with the sound -ertas)

abiertas

rhyme in -ertas

alertas

Note that in all of the above examples, the rhyme starts with the primary
vowel of the last stressed syllable. Any consonants or semi-vowels before
that primary vowel do not have to be identical; for example,
muertas and puertas do rhyme, but
they also rhyme with abiertas).

For the rhyme to be perfect, the
sound must be identical, but the spelling does not have to be. For example,
in Spanish the letter h is silent, so the words
búho and actúo rhyme. On
the other hand, since in most of Spain the letters s and z
represent different sounds, the words casaand
caza would not rhyme there.

Before we go on, you should remember that
individual lines (versos) of poetry are typically divided up
into stanzas (estrofas). The words stanza and
verse are sometime used interchangeably in English as in the
expression Same song, second verse [i.e., stanza]; however, in
Spanish this is not the case: verso does not mean stanza.

Rhyme schemes. In the abstract, a poet
can order the rhyme in a poem in any way he/she wants to, although many specific
patterns or schemes exist. Rhyme schemes are normally indicated by letters
of the alphabet. For Spanish poetry, we use upper case letters
(ABC...) for long lines of poetry, that is over eight syllables in
length (versos de arte mayor), and lower case letters (abc...)
for shorter lines of poetry, that is eight syllables or less (versos de
arte menor). Starting with the letter A or a for the first
rhyme of a poem, we examine each word in the rhyming position and assign
it a letter or symbol: 1) a previously used letter of the alphabet if the
rhyme is one that has already been used in the poem or stanza in question,
or 2) a new letter of the alphabet the next unused letter available
if the rhyme hasn't been used yet, or 3) Ø if the rhyme is not used
anywhere in the poem or stanza in question.

For example, this is a stanza from the poem
Vida retirada by Fray Luis de León with both seven and
11 syllable lines (that is both lines of arte menor and arte
mayor) and the rhyme scheme aBabB:

¡Oh campo, oh monte, oh río!

a

the first letter of the alphabet because this rhyme,
-ío, is the first rhyme; a lower case (not A)
is used because it's a short line (7 syllables)

¡Oh secreto seguro deleitoso!

B

a new letter is used because -oso is a new rhyme,
and it is a capital letter (not b) because a long line (11 syllables)
is involved

roto casi el navío,

a

the rhyme -ío is the same as used in the
first line above, and a lower case letter is used because it is a line of
only 7 syllables

a vuestro almo reposo

b

-oso is the same rhyme used in line two above, and
we use a lower case letter because it is a line of only 7 syllables

huyo de aqueste mar tempestuoso.

B

-oso repeats the rhyme used in lines 2 and 4, and
a capital B indicates that the line is more than 8 syllables
(11 syllables to be exact)

Here is another example, this time from a poem
called Canción del pirata by José de Espronceda.
The stanza is composed of eight four-syllable lines.

En las presas

Ø

no subsequent line rhymes with this one

yo divido

a

these two lines share the same rhyme, -ido

lo cogido

a

por igual;

b

a new rhyme (same as will appear in the last line in the stanza)

sólo quiero

Ø

this line does not rhyme with any other

por riqueza

c

these two lines have the same rhyme (a new one), -eza

la belleza

c

sin rival.

b

this is the same rhyme as line number 4

Various rhyme structures are possible for a
given poem. For example, in many poems each stanza will have the same rhyme
scheme: that is, new rhymes may appear in each stanza, but each stanza follows
the same pattern as the first one. At the other extreme we find many modern
poems with no rhyme or merely isolated instances of rhyme with no real pattern.
In between are a great number of possible structures, for example when
a specific rhyme reoccurs in one part of each stanza as in the case where
there is a refrain (estribillo), that is lines which are repeated
at more or less regular intervals in a poem, usually at the end of stanzas.
Consider the poem No te tardes by Juan del Encina:

¡No te tardes que me muero

a

introductory part, three lines with the same rhyme,
-ero

carcelero,

a

no te tardes que me muero!

a

Apresura tu venida

b

first regular stanza; three lines with the same rhyme, followed
by ...

porque no pierda la vida

b

que la fe no está perdida:

b

carcelero,

a

a refrain (estribillo); the rhyme is of course the same
as that of the introduction

¡no te tardes que me muero!

a

Sácame de esta cadena,

c

second stanza, consisting of three lines with the same (new)
rhyme, -ena, followed by ...

que recibo muy gran pena

c

pues tu tardar me condena,

c

carcelero,

a

the refrain (estribillo)

¡no te tardes que me muero!

a

Practice

All of the selections given below use perfect
rhyme. Determine the rhyme scheme for each, underlining the sounds involved
and writing the rhyme scheme in the spaces provided. [Note: Not all of the
selections are not given in their entirety; in many cases only isolated stanzas
are quoted here.]